Penn Yan Rainbow, 1946

[Howard Caplan]

I am in the finish stage of the '46' Penn Yan Rainbow - RNS46
The out stems were not present when I picked the boat up.

Can I use Spruce for the out stems or should I go with a harder wood? I have a nice, clear piece in the shop which I also used for the out whales.
I have never bent a stem, in or out before and I am a bit jittery about the bending and so am hoping that spruce can work fine as I anticipate spruce bending easier then oak would.

Thanks for all comments.

 

[Paul Miller]

Hi Howard,

The natural mental process would make you think Spruce easier to bend but it's the reverse. Hardwood is easier to bend then most soft wood; its suppose to be the cell structure. So use Oak, Ash or even Cherry.

I'll have to post some pictures of how I bend stems on a flat table top with great results bending around a single half moon shaped piece of 3/4 fiber board or whatever they call it.

Of course you back it with a metal strap and slowly clamp the piece around the form not to bend the stock before the bending strap.

Soaking for a week helps.

Paul

 

[Howard Caplan]

Thanks Paul. I have heard this and promptly forgot it as while I believe it, it makes little sense. This canoe does have quarter sawn oak decks and I'm not sure what the thwarts are. They look like mahogany to me but that doesn't make sense.
The S in the RNS46... stamped on the stem is spruce and the gunnels are spruce. I am wondering if anybody knows if the original out stems may have been spruce? I am leaning toward picking up a length of white oak to make the stems.

 

[Mark Adams]

Hi Howard,

I restored one years ago, and the outside stems were ash or white oak. I replaced them with ash.

 

[Gil Cramer]

I've never seen spruce os stems on any canoe. Every PY os on a canoe, trailboat, swift, or whatever that I've seen were of oak. Straight grained, flat sawn, green, or air dried white oak bends well, if soaked for a week or so and steamed well. Wavy grained white oak makes good firewood. Kiln dried oak will bend, but needs to be soaked longer. Elm and sassafras bend even better and can be bent right on the canoe. . Thompson Bros nailed the elm os stems onto the canoe which is a good indication that they were bent on the canoe and not on a form.

 

[Dan Miller]

The 1946 Penn Yan catalog specifies that the RNS model has spruce gunwales, and mahogany decks, thwarts and seats. The oak decks could be replacements, or wartime substitutes for the mahogany decks.

If there are no other numbers in your serial number, then the "46" is likely the serialized number, not the year. (The PY serial numbers that are believed to encode the year are typically 5 numbers following the letters.)

In any case, your outside stems would have been white oak or ash (or even elm on early ones), but not spruce.

 

[Dave Wermuth]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jsd5HapWpE&feature=autoplay&list=ULQuI5WlHwO8Y&playnext=1 This is the link to a vid on youtube I did years ago. there are two parts. It shows how I do it. these are inside stems but no matter. I soak for a week. I like elm. hope it helps. my youtube name is davidwermuth80 if the link doesn't work. 80 is not my age, only how old I feel.

 

[Howie]

I too used ash on my Rainbow for the external stems. I understand white oak might even be a better choice. I believe the stems were originally 7/8" thick - but I could only manage to bend 11/16" without cracking. Took me months to get it right...I wish you better luck! O - you might try steaming & bending the wood with a rectangular profile - say 1/2" x 7/8" - and shape it later while on the canoe.